Mythra ready to rise again with new album

A South Shields heavy metal band who inspired rock legends Metallica are heading back into the recording studio.

Mythra were picked up by a German record label after they performed at a music festival in the country.

The group – made up of Vince High, John Roach, Alex Perry, Maurice Bates, and Phil Davies – will be flying to Poland next month to record their new album with High Roller Records.

They were spotted by the label during their set at Keep It True Festival.

Singer Vince said: “There were 3,000 people there and we got an incredible reception.

“Some of the reviewers even put us in the top five bands they’d seen that weekend so we were pretty happy with that.

“High Roller Records came along to the show and obviously liked what they saw because they asked us to record a new album with them.

“We’re going to Poland to record it and we’ll be in the studio for 10 days. It’s all new songs that we’ve written ourselves.

“We worked together to write the songs, and they’re about everyday life and personal experiences, political and social commentary, and fantasy and science fiction too.”

Mythra reunited last year for their first gig in three decades, when they were asked to perform at Brofest music festival, in Newcastle.

Since then, they’ve been invited to play at festivals across Europe and released an anthology of their music, Warriors Of Time: The Anthology.

This new album will be their first full recording of original material since 1998.

Vince added: “We’ve enjoyed writing the new songs and it’s great that we’re writing together as a band.

“We’re excited about putting a new album out and about being back together. It started off as a one-off gig at Brofest last year and has just been crazy since then.”

After they’ve finished recording, Mythra, who were cited as an influence by Metallica, have more gigs across Europe.

They’ll be playing at the Metalcova Festival, in Barcelona, in November and Up The Hammers Festival, in Athens, in May next year.

Vince, a retired youth services manager at South Tyneside Council, added: “We still have a lot to write about and to put into our music. A lot has happened with us since the band was last together and we’ve got a lot of personal experiences to write about, as well as social comments.”